Iceland: Horseback tours in saga land

by W. S. C. Russell

This is a lovely series of fosses. The water from the rapidly melting glaciers pours out of the narrow confines of the basaltic canyon and at the foot of each fall forms a grand basin of emerald green water in a weird rock setting. Towards Kalmungstúnga there is a good sized forest, for Iceland, and the grass plains, through which this canyon cuts a great gray gash, form a real oasis in this elevated lava waste, shut in by towering mountains capped eternally with adamantine ice.

But by far the greatest interest here is the series of waterfalls, at the foot of the Barnafoss, which pour out of the lava in a half-mile series of cascades and waterspouts. North of Kalmungstúnga the waters from Eyriks Jökull flow into the lava and doubtless into subterranean channels like the tunnel of Surtshellir. This river flows many miles under ground and reappears at this point beside the brink of the Hvitá canyon. The rock formation which makes this strange waterfall possible is as follows:—

A rift in the ancient basalt, doubtless the result of an earthquake, formed the canyon of the Geitlandsá; later, another flow of lava swept down the valley and stopped at the very brink of this rift so that two great lava flows stand in sight, one above the other. Between these two sheets of lava flows the lost river from the glaciers and here it spurts out in a long series of cascades side by side. It is one of the finest sights in Iceland and one that the traveller in Iceland usually misses because it is off the regular trail. The guides do not always call attention to it and I fear that many of them do not know of its existence. It is a fact that few Icelanders know their own country, even the portion of it which they sometimes attempt to show to tourists. There are a few guides who know the travelled portion and know it thoroughly; these men look askance upon their fellows who act as guides and do not know every detail of the route, its history and its legends. The real Icelandic guide will, if you encourage him the least bit, show every point of interest and relate all the history and the legends. A story is told by the guides at Reykjavik of one of their fellow countrymen who attempted to guide a man from Geysir to Gullfoss, a distance of from one and a half to two hours ride. After wandering about the country all day and a part of the night they returned to Geysir without having seen the falls. He will never hear the end of it in Reykjavik. We have Ólafur to thank for many profitable hours in his beloved land. The real guide loves every spot to which he takes you and he feels that there is nothing like it, nothing half so good anywhere else in the world. The enthusiastic guide, filled with the love of his country and steeped in its traditions is a boon to a traveller, no matter in what land he seeks new scenes.

It was late when we left the falls and so we hastened across the rolling, grass-grown hills to Reykholt, Steam-Stead. Down the long slope and across the usual grass bog we rode and into the enclosure by the house where we were welcomed and given comfortable quarters by the pastor. This is historic ground, the site of the stead of Snorri Sturlason, “The Herodotus of the north.”

Snorri was born in 1178, when only three years of age he went to fostering at the home of Saemund, the Wise, at Oddi. Saemund died when Snorri was nineteen. Snorri’s father had considerable property but after his death, Snorri’s mother, described as a “gay young widow” wasted the substance and left the son to enter life’s activities with little. In 1199 Snorri married the daughter of Bersi, the Wealthy, who lived at Borg, the home of the famous Skallagrim. Snorri was now twenty years old and he entered directly into public affairs. He early became embroiled in partisan feuds but continued to gain power and following. This lead to his attaining the position of the Goði of his district. The Goði was a priestly ruler whose power and influence was supreme. If one desires to know more of the life and functions of this ancient official of the early days of Iceland he can get no better account than that left in the writings of Snorri.

Snorri at this time obtained the stead of Reykholt as a freehold and at once separated from his wife. The date of this occurrence is prior to 1209 for we read that the Bishop of Hólar spent the “winter of 1209 at Reykholt with Snorri Sturlason.” He had thus won the choicest holding in the entire valley as well as the enviable position of Goði. “He now became a great chieftain with ample means.” In 1215 he was elected Speaker-at-Law, at the early age of thirty-seven and for a term of three years. This was the highest honor in the land.

Snorri was a statesman, a poet, a scholar and a historian. It is in the latter capacity that he is of the most interest to us. In 1218 he went to Norway and was made a welcome guest at the homes of several of the Earls and at the court of King Hakon on account of his winning ways, his ready wit, his commanding presence and the songs that he composed in honor of his friends. He tarried two winters in Norway and it was during the second winter that his love of wealth and power was used by the King as a lever to influence him to betray Iceland into the hands of the Norwegian monarch. Snorri and his warlike brothers had often been embroiled in feuds especially with the masters of the trading ships from Norway and from Orkney. From his position as Goði, Snorri had the power to fix the prices and he often took advantage of his power to enrich himself at the expense of the foreigners. The result of these troubles was that an armed expedition was to be sent to Iceland by the orders of King Hakon under the conduct of Earle Skuli to avenge their countrymen who had been put to death in Iceland. Snorri knew what would be the outcome of this expedition, how it would develop into a long and hostile strife between the two countries and with most persuasive language he assuaged the anger of the King and his Earle and held out prospects that Icelanders might become the vassals of Hakon. This suited the King, so Snorri was made a “landed-man,” the highest position to which one of the King’s subjects could be elevated. Snorri, as a vassal, immediately gave to the King all of his great estates in Iceland. The King immediately returned them all to Snorri as his “landed-man” and in the form of a Royal Grant. This swapping for an empty title was the greatest mistake of Snorri’s life, and one that eventually led to his premature death. The Icelanders never knew the real reason for this act and they could bear no treason. Snorri, with all of his shrewdness, did not forsee the outcome. In 1220 he returned to Iceland with great gifts from both Earle and King. When he landed in the Westmann Islands in pomp the people became suspicious of him and made slurring jests about him even making parodies upon his own poems which cut Snorri to the quick.

Árhver, River Hot Springs near Reykholt.